never the same

Tag Archives: the 90s

I love music. I love singing – I love dancing. And I love watching singing and dancing. Musicals have been a part of my life since the first moments I can remember. My favorite movies have singing and dancing [from the Muppets, to Barbra Streisand, to random Disney fare]. So – I will watch movies, plays, and tv shows that might not have the best actors or plots as long as they have some cool musical performances. This includes reality shows.

With all that said, it should be no surprise that I love Glee. I do. Comments have been made about inappropriate musical choices and cheesy, awful stereotypes – and I get that. I understand. But I hardly even feel guilty about enjoying this show, because it’s too much yummy-goodness in the form of 90’s R&B music!

Tonight we had This is How We Do It(Montell Jordan), Poison (BBD) – with the rap!, Mercy(Duffy), Bust Your Windows (Jazmine Sullivan), and I Wanna Sex U Up (Color Me Badd-d-d-d-d LOL!). Three out of five songs were from the 90s! And I still know the words! So yeah – even though the songs weren’t performed all that well – except for Bust Your Windows – I loved it!

Even with a guest spot from Josh Groban [who I personally cannot stand], and a name drop of Run DMC, who I like,I think I’m mostly loving this show because of the big numbers and the reminiscing factor.

My first year in college was a one of the best years of my life. I’d already lived a few different places and learned a bit about the world, but not much. My world was actually pretty small. Living in a dorm with girls from all over the country was cool, and going to an all women’s college was really fun. I definitely think there are benefits – at least at that age.

There were about 25 or so of us in our dorm, and I was one of two girls that was in the habit of attending church every week. That year held the only time I ever decided to just play hooky and stay home and watch tv. What a horrible day. So I learned my lesson – my faith is real, and I lose when I fail to respect it.

One girl was a bully, and found me to be her easy target – and I was. I had girls like that in my life from the time that I was 5 until the time that I was about 17. Mom fought the battle once, and got the 3rd grade bully kicked off the bus when I was in kindergarten (she writes letters). After that, I was on my own. Being shy made it harder for me to deal with bullies, and even now, I wonder at the marvel that I’ve essentially been bully free [with the exception of my current boss, who kinda fits that category] since I was a teenager. I’ve never actually been able to do anything about them.

For whatever reason, one of my best friends, my first semester there, never told me she was a lesbian. She ended up not coming back for 2nd semester, and my roommate filled me in, but I couldn’t believe she hadn’t told me. I suppose she just never felt comfortable, though I’m not sure why. There were other girls there who were out. And I didn’t mind either way. I feel like I remember that I was one of the few – if not the only – who didn’t know.

the only diff? Andy had more rouge. Really.

This was also the first time I had any kind of experience with Mary Kay. The powers that were decided that it would be useful for us to have a Mary Kay party. It’d be fun, and we’d learn more about personal grooming [that is…makeup]. I think at least 50% of us weren’t into it. And then the consultant took my friend, Andy* – the one who wore ball caps and pny tails all the time – and gave her a “free makeover”. Quelle horror! When the lady was finished, Andy looked like someone else. At the time, I didn’t know who, because I hadn’t seen her yet. Years later, I saw her makeup twin on The Drew Carey Show. Andy was gracious, and moved slowly out of the room, finally making it upstairs to wash all that stuff off. Thank God we didn’t have digital photos back then.

There was one girl in our program who was Wiccan, and at that point, I had no idea what that was. I don’t think many of us actually did. And she could tell. So she invited someone to come talk to us about Wicca and what it was about. It turned into a seminar kind of thing in our auditorium, but it was very interesting. I remember making a point to go because I wanted to know more – I think a lot of people did. I don’t remember the name of the woman who came, but I remember she was from the DC area, and had a Wiccan tv show on a public access channel. The presentation included an interesting slideshow from the days before PowerPoint [how old am I?], and held all of our attention. We learned about the first rule – do no harm or something like that. That would be because of the rule of three. That is, whatever you do comes back to you times three. And she told us that they do cast spells, but they have to be good because of the rule of three. And I think I remember her saying something about her coven casting a spell to make the Redskins win…

In the course of her talk she told us about how woman-centered Wicca is, and told us her personal story. She told us near the beginning of her talk, actually, that she had recently been a man. This was actually very clear [because of her figure, stance, voice, face, and myriad other signs]. She was married to a lady who was also a priestess in their coven. Being, apparently, quite dedicated to Wicca, she told us that she aspired to be a high priestess, but was barred from doing so because she was a dude. So she talked it over with her wife, and they agreed I guess. She was a high priestess when she came to give the talk.

After the talk, she came back to the dorm basement and read tarot for people who were into it – I wasn’t. Same place where the Mary Kay lady turned my friend into a clown, actually.

It was a crazy year – I missed my sister terribly, had the best baked potato I ever had, and the best strawberry shortcake, came to fear my Spanish teacher, began to curse like crazy and then had a change of heart, learned that I don’t like whole milk, rocked out to Black or White and Smells Like Teen Spirit, and watched the very first/only real season of The Real World. Somewhere in the midst of all of that I took some classes, too.

*Name has been changed to protect the girl in the hands of the Mary Kay lady.

cuz I’ve recently acquired a few throwbacks causing me to make a 90s pop music playlist. I have a ton of 90s R&B but I don’t really consider it 90s music. [I wonder why? Maybe cuz I still listen to a lot of it? It’s more music to reminisce on, I guess. I don’t know.] Anyway, some of these song have huge memories tied to them, some were just great songs. Some were just ok songs that worked their way into my consciousness due to the ubiquity of the airtime. And some songs are missing.

29 songs from the 90s

bands and such that make me reminisce and feel old

I’ll leave you with a song that’s not on the list, but one of my faves, nonetheless.

Looking for a movie that’s sweet, low-key, with at least one hot guy? A mellow romantic comedy with some 90s nostalgia thrown in? Definitely, Maybe is it.

With a cast including Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Rachel Weisz [who I will always love b-cuz of the Mummy movies], and Isla Fisher [who is apparently starring as Becky Bloomwood when Confessions of a Shopaholic finally debuts next year – yay!], this movie delivers the feel-good you just might need in the growing conflagration of sorrow that seems to be exploding this summer.

As a complete bonus, if you love NYC and you were fond of the 90s, this movie will take you back. Maybe I’m gushing, here, but I feel like this was just what the doctor ordered. It entertained, was aesthetically pleasant, and took me back to my own memories of the 90s – some of which were due for a bit of dusting off.

In summary, Ryan Reynolds is Abigail Breslin’s father, and after much cajoling on her part, he begins to tell her the story of how he and her mother ended up together. It’s a complicated story, and this story is the meat of the movie. Several women come in and out of his life, and we (along with his daughter) are carried along for the mysterious journey to discover just which one became her mother.

This movie was very satisfying for me, and I could see watching it again and again when it inevitably comes on We or Oxygen or Lifetime, or TBS or TNT or USA, or whatever.

Last but not least, this movie revived the memory of that long ago day in my dorm room, when I first heard Kurt Cobain and ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. That really was the birth of the 90s. A new sound in rock, there were new sounds in hip hop and pop, the world was changing and I believed in everything back then. So before my digression takes over, reminisce with a bud and see this movie.